One by one, diplomats from the Caribbean and Central America spoke at the Organization of American States in Venezuela praise for its program of subsidized oil exports. The effusive statements are an example of the challenge facing the OAS to seek to increase pressure on Venezuela opens its legislative elections next month to international supervision.
Franco Ordonez / The Miami Herald
A week after the secretary general of the OAS harshly criticized Venezuelan authorities for failing to ensure the realization of fair elections in December, President of the American body another body, the Permanent Council, which coincidentally is the Venezuelan Ambassador invited Thursday one of his compatriots to discuss Petrocaribe, Venezuela's energy program they depend several of the member countries of the OAS.
Venezuela has distributed up to $ 50,000 million in subsidized oil in the last decade to help gain allies in the Caribbean and Central America.
Eulogio del Pino, president of the state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), said he welcomed the opportunity to highlight the benefits of the program that provides billions of dollars in subsidies. He said he wanted to defend the company "attacks" and "lies" in the sense that it was simply a vehicle of political influence.
But he also joked about the familiar faces he found on the council and noted that more than half, 19 OAS members are also part of Petrocaribe.
"I feel like I'm in a board meeting of Petrocaribe with additional members of the OAS," the official, who is also Minister of Petroleum and Mining said.
A dozen ambassadors from the Caribbean and Central America were in favor of the program after the intervention of president of PDVSA. Several they described the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as a visionary in developing the program and thanked the current president, Nicolas Maduro, to continue.
The representative of El Salvador said the program allowed the government to concentrate more resources on areas of need such as access to food. Ambassador of Saint Kitts and Nevis for his part said that the program has helped them to reduce their public debt and the Ambassador of Guyana said that Petrocaribe is a program that should be replicated.
"What we hear is a living testament to the commitment to confront poverty and inequality in the region," said Diego Pary, ambassador of Bolivia.
Read the full story in El Nuevo Herald